Vic Mignogna Controversies

[PicardMan]

It looks like Vic Mignogna will appear at Tupelo Con. Tupelo Con guest slated to appear amid sexual harassment claims. Not too surprising as he's seen as a persecuted figure in much of the south. I wouldn't be surprised if the Wichita Anime Festival and Tokyo in Tulsa add him to their lineup. I'm keeping tabs on the goings on at central US anime cons and am worried about how they will do considering all the other controversies going on over here.

 

[Light Lucario]

I do hope that they were honest in regards to having extra security to make sure that the people at the con would be safe. I don't believe much of anything from Vic at this point though.

I wouldn't be too surprised if he's still invited to more cons either. He's still a recognizable and popular voice actor in spite of the allegations against him. I just imagine there will be fewer cons willing to put up with him now that the claims have gotten more public attention, especially when he was already pretty infamous among con staff members. I don't like the idea of Vic being around children or still having a platform for kids to idolize him. I just hope that he'll be blacklisted from the voice acting industry, which still seems pretty likely given how the events have already unfolded, and he doesn't get the chance to hurt anyone else again.

I still think about this controversy, especially when I hear about people being harassed for speaking out against Vic. Even if he was somehow completely innocent, I think that Vic would still look pretty bad given how he has handled the situation, mainly with those insincere apologies. Plus, his die-hard fans sound like some of the worse people imaginable and I wouldn't want to associate myself with the kind of fanbase who thinks that sending death threats and harassment are appropriate responses to anything, let alone sexual harassment allegations. Like I've said before and most likely will say again, the lack of empathy has been one of the most disturbing aspect of this entire situation. It still upsets me whenever I see someone, usually a voice actor, trying to encourage people to be kind to each other or celebrate their work only for people to completely miss the point or to pull some passive aggressive nonsense on them.

 

[PicardMan]

I have some news. Vic was at Central Pennsylvania Comic Con, Guest Bio’s – Comic Book & Pop Culture Convention! . He will also be at Hawaiicon, Guest Stars 2019 — HawaiiCon . Looks like his congoing career is far from over. Still wondering if Vic is going to any of the cons in my region as they have not announced yet. Wondering what the reception of him was at Central Pennsylvania Comic Con.

 

[Light Lucario]

I heard about the Hawaiicon, but I didn't hear about the Central Pennsylvania Comic Con appearance. Admittedly, I am a bit surprised in a way that he keeps getting invited to conventions. Considering how infamous he was for con staffs for years, I figured all of these allegations getting attention would make cons more eager to not invite him, if not just straight up ban him. But at the same time, he is still a popular voice actor with some iconic roles under his belt. He would still bring in more people and more money as a result.

I woudln't be surprised if some of these cons saw this as a way to bring more attention and money for their cons. After all, he has apparently been awful at cons for years and has made both fans and fellow guests uncomfortable to say the least, but some cons still invite him because money is more important than the feelings of the victims or the safety of the people at their conventions. He still may get invited to cons for awhile, but his con schedule probably won't be as heavy as it has been for years. I still don't like that cons, mainly because I don't feel comfortable with the idea of more children idolizing Vic or Vic being near children, but hopefully they'll at least have better security at those cons. I also still hope that he'll end up being blacklisted from the voice acting industry and that he'll somehow fade into obscurity.

It actually still kind of amazes me that I hope for something like that when I used to be a fan of his. I was never was really into his fanclub or anything like that, but I liked some of his roles and he always seemed nice in videos from different cons. Now I just feel upset for falling for his nice Christian guy act and especially for dismissing all of the rumors about him as just hate. In hindsight, that LA Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal dub not happening might have been a blessing in disguise simply because he would have been in the cast. The production value of clips from that dub were still better than what any of the 4K Media dubs turned out to be, but these allegations could have really soured my opinion on that dub if it wasn't made illegally and had been allowed to cover dubs for the franchise. It would have been even worse if he was in a LA dub for Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V considering that's my favorite series in the franchise and my favorite toyetic series in general. At this point, I'm kind of grateful that his biggest role in Pokemon was just in one movie as opposed to a larger supporting role in one of the various series.

 

[PicardMan]

We have our first voice actor in support of Vic, Reuben Langdon.

Joey Camon did a blackface routine. Here's an article about more voice actors behaving badly, Devil May Cry 5 voice actor pulls racist and transphobic videos from his own YouTube channel .

 

[Light Lucario]

We have our first voice actor in support of Vic, Reuben Langdon.

Joey Camon did a blackface routine. Here's an article about more voice actors behaving badly, Devil May Cry 5 voice actor pulls racist and transphobic videos from his own YouTube channel .

I'm kind of surprised that any voice actor would do that at this point. After being fired from two major studios, I don't know if being out in support of Vic would be good for a voice actor's public image. The situation has cooled down, at least until Vic possibly goes to court, but I don't know if this would really help either him or Vic at this point. Also, his argument is pretty awful. Just because he has seen Vic accept that some people don't want a hug or accept boundaries doesn't negate all of these accusations. It's quite easy that Vic can be a different person around different people or he just didn't notice if any of the women he hugged were uncomfortable. Just because he can't believe Vic would go further than a hug means that he is incapable of sexual harassment either. That kind of argument has a lot of holes in it and certainly isn't a ringing endorsement for Vic after all of the allegations against him.

I can understand what he's talking about with forgiveness, but not everyone wants to forgive their abusers and they shouldn't be required to do so in order to move on. Plus, simply forgiving isn't going to stop people from being sexually abused or from being murdered. That's exactly why MeToo and Black Lives Matter started. People wanted to get their stories across and get more attention for serious issues like sexual harassment and police brutality against African Americans. You can't really expect change when you only forgive the people who have hurt or killed others.

 

[Terror of Death]

Some more news. The lawsuit GoFundMe started by Mignogna's lawyer friend surpassed its goal of $100,000. Funimation listed a Q&A with Vic as one of the special features on the upcoming Dragon Ball Super home video release (this was weeks after his firing). Also, some indie comic book company said that they still plan on using him as one of the two leads if their animation adaptation comes to fruition.

Most of his roles were with Funimation but he also did some work for Viz, Saban, Netflix, Media Blasters, video game localizers, etc. I don't think any of them have officially said anything about the matter but it's possible he might still be hired by a few of them for future projects. I wouldn't be surprised if he just used a pseudonym or took voice over jobs from lesser know companies from now on.

 

[Light Lucario]

I am absolutely disgusted that people are giving Vic that much money for a lawyer. It's even worse when I remember that people who spoke out against him and in favor of the victims were harassed, sent death threats and feared for their safety. Regardless of how people feel about these accusations or as Vic as a person, I don't know why people would think that giving someone money for a potential lawsuit would be okay. I don't know if using a GoFundMe campaign to hire a lawyer is even legal, despite how it was apparently started by a lawyer. It would be one thing if Vic started it himself, but someone else making the campaign instead seems legally questionable at best to me. It's also rather strange that people are giving him money when he mention he'd donate it instead, so I don't understand this on multiple levels. It is absolutely sickening and disgusting to me though.

Funimation listing a Q&A with Vic as a special feature is kind of weird. I'm sure that it was all done well before the accusations came to light, let alone before he was fired, and having something like that with Vic for this movie makes sense. It just seems pretty awkward to include it now after they cut ties with him. I don't know how developing DVD releases work or if it was too late to remove the Q&A from the DVDs by the time they fired him, but it is a bit strange and confusing.

I don't think that any other company has officially cut ties with Vic either. It would kind of be hard for Viz Media to do that considering that he is featured in the current Jojo dub and I don't know if they have finished recording lines for his character by this point. I'm not sure how regularly he works at other studios, so that could be a reason as to why they haven't announced anything official either. It is still possible for them to hire him for future projects, but I'm not sure how likely that is. Being fired from two major studios is pretty telling and bad for his public image. He might get some work at lesser known studios, but I don't know how well taking a pseudonym would work out. Vic's voice is too recognizable and any cons that would still invite him would make it clear who he really is. He seems to have a large ego, so I don't think he'd try to hide his identity at this point.

 

[PicardMan]

It appears that Kamehacon is possibly going to shut down over the Vic Mignogna controversy getting the owner too stressed out. With the A-Kon drama of it moving from Fort Worth to Dallas, the south central US anime convention scene is getting in even more chaos.

Also, some indie comic book company said that they still plan on using him as one of the two leads if their animation adaptation comes to fruition.

Which comic?

 

[Fone Bone]

I am absolutely disgusted that people are giving Vic that much money for a lawyer. It's even worse when I remember that people who spoke out against him and in favor of the victims were harassed, sent death threats and feared for their safety. Regardless of how people feel about these accusations or as Vic as a person, I don't know why people would think that giving someone money for a potential lawsuit would be okay. I don't know if using a GoFundMe campaign to hire a lawyer is even legal, despite how it was apparently started by a lawyer. It would be one thing if Vic started it himself, but someone else making the campaign instead seems legally questionable at best to me. It's also rather strange that people are giving him money when he mention he'd donate it instead, so I don't understand this on multiple levels. It is absolutely sickening and disgusting to me though.

Honestly, this is 2019. I have stopped being surprised by despicable behavior. Just where we are with MeToo and politics tells me there is no bottom.

Edit: Also keep in mind crowdsourcing a lawyer for an outright monster is not unprecedented. George Zimmerman (no relation thank God) fleeced his "fans" this way. At least Vic has never murdered anyone that we know of.

 

[Light Lucario]

It appears that Kamehacon is possibly going to shut down over the Vic Mignogna controversy getting the owner too stressed out. With the A-Kon drama of it moving from Fort Worth to Dallas, the south central US anime convention scene is getting in even more chaos.

That sounds pretty intense. I can understand why it would stress out the owner. Kamehacon is Dragon Ball related and there would still be plenty of fans who would want to see the original voice actor for Broly after watching the movie. While I'm sure that Broly will have a new voice actor eventually, I'm already worried about how fans will treat him whenever that happens. It might be even more intense if Super adapts the Broly movie into the series whenever it returns like they did with the other recent Dragon Ball movies.

Honestly, this is 2019. I have stopped being surprised by despicable behavior. Just where we are with MeToo and politics tells me there is no bottom.

That is sadly true. I just boggles my mind that people are literally giving Vic thousands of dollars for a lawsuit while anyone who spoke out against him and/or in support of the victims are still being harassed and sent death threats. This is still a big reason why I don't see this as a win/lose kind of situation. Vic has fortunately gotten some consequences for his actions at least, but people are still giving him money because apparently it's so much easier to believe that this is all a conspiracy against Vic than the idea that he has a history of sexual harassment towards women is. Even for the people who do subscribe to that notion, why bother giving him money for a lawyer? He's a grown man. Let him get his own lawyer if he wants to take up legal action. Sure, he isn't rolling in money as a voice actor and lawyers are expensive, but I'm sure that there would still be ways he can get one on his own and/or with the help of any of the people he actually knows instead of random people on the Internet throwing the money to him. There are so may people and causes that could benefit from $100,000 too Seeing people give that kind of money to a creep like Vic is just heartbreaking and upsetting.

Edit: Also keep in mind crowdsourcing a lawyer for an outright monster is not unprecedented. George Zimmerman (no relation thank God) fleeced his "fans" this way. At least Vic has never murdered anyone that we know of.

It took me way too long to remember who George Zimmerman is. I still think that someone else starting up the crowdsourcing for Vic makes it a bit more legally questionable if he can touch it. If he was the one who started it, it would probably be fine, but someone else doing it for him as a favor just seems so odd to me.

 

[Terror of Death]

Which comic?

I never read it before but its some book called Prince Adventures. The company released a statement about Vic last month.

 

[Light Lucario]

Since they're such a small company, I wouldn't be surprised if they made that statement at least in part to get more attention in the mist of all this controversy. Regardless of how you feel about the accusations, that kind of statement would get more people to talk about their studio/projects. It is still sad to see such blatant victim blaming nonsense even in official statements like that one. It sadly isn't surprising, but it is still sad, especially when they had to include Todd. Admittedly, I am a bit worried that his accusation is being forgotten in the mist of everything about Vic, especially when a rape accusation is pretty serious, but I do hope something is being done about that situation.

I also didn't think I could loathe the phrase innocent until proven guilty, but I think seeing it being misused countless times during the past couple of months did the trick. People just love using that line as if it automatically means that we should always doubt whenever these accusations come up without something legal or hard physical evidence backing it up. That is such a narrow and harmful way of seeing these kind of allegations. A person doesn't have to be arrested or found guilty in the court of law to lose their job. Sexual harassment and other kinds of inappropriate behavior are pretty justified reasons for firing someone. Plus, aside from maybe some of the accusations from the voice actresses, I'm not sure if Vic could be taken to court for a few reasons. His behavior sounds creepy and unsettling, but I'm not sure if that's enough to get him in jail. It is definitely enough for Vic to lose work, especially when this seems to have happened for at least a decade.

 

[Rhaynebow]

I also didn't think I could loathe the phrase innocent until proven guilty, but I think seeing it being misused countless times during the past couple of months did the trick. People just love using that line as if it automatically means that we should always doubt whenever these accusations come up without something legal or hard physical evidence backing it up. That is such a narrow and harmful way of seeing these kind of allegations. A person doesn't have to be arrested or found guilty in the court of law to lose their job. Sexual harassment and other kinds of inappropriate behavior are pretty justified reasons for firing someone. Plus, aside from maybe some of the accusations from the voice actresses, I'm not sure if Vic could be taken to court for a few reasons. His behavior sounds creepy and unsettling, but I'm not sure if that's enough to get him in jail. It is definitely enough for Vic to lose work, especially when this seems to have happened for at least a decade.

See, the way I view the “innocent until proven guilty” thing, I don’t think it’s JUST talking about legal stuff. I think it’s also the expectation that the accused should be shunned, banned, blacklisted, hated, whatever word fits the bill, by everyone. That because the accused hurt THIS person, that EVERYONE should unanimously hate the accused and the accused needs to disappear.

Realistically-speaking, unanimous hatred can’t happen. I’ve kept quiet here for the past few weeks because news of companies, fundraisers and cons still supporting Vic should be of little surprise. His resume can’t just be erased and people can’t be forced to hate him, no matter how many victims come forward. They’re listening to their testimonies like everyone else and have the right to take a side afterwards. It shouldn’t be a problem if some of them support the accused. (Sending death threats and swatting are an entirely different subject and which side you’re on should never matter in cases like those.)

To be getting upset that some people have chosen to still stand with Vic completely ignores the actions already taken that greatly favor the victims. He’s lost arguably his biggest jobs, a ton of convention appearances and burned even more bridges within the industry. I’d say the MeToo movement accomplished their mission against Vic. No point in updating this thread with news that not EVERYONE hates the guy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Light Lucario]

See, the way I view the “innocent until proven guilty” thing, I don’t think it’s JUST talking about legal stuff. I think it’s also the expectation that the accused should be shunned, banned, blacklisted, hated, whatever word fits the bill, by everyone. That because the accused hurt THIS person, that EVERYONE should unanimously hate the accused and the accused needs to disappear.

I'm not sure if that's what people are talking about when they say "innocent until proven guilty." That might be the case for at least some people, but it sounds more like they don't want to even consider the possibility that any accusation can be true until a court of law finds them guilty. It's the same reason people don't want to believe the victims until they see police reports or something more physical to back up their claims, despite how people often don't have physical evidence of their experiences just lying around. It just comes off as dismissing the victims as potential liars until proven otherwise, which just rubs me the wrong way.

Realistically-speaking, unanimous hatred can’t happen. I’ve kept quiet here for the past few weeks because news of companies, fundraisers and cons still supporting Vic should be of little surprise. His resume can’t just be erased and people can’t be forced to hate him, no matter how many victims come forward. They’re listening to their testimonies like everyone else and have the right to take a side afterwards. It shouldn’t be a problem if some of them support the accused. (Sending death threats and swatting are an entirely different subject and which side you’re on should never matter in cases like those.)

I'm not saying that everyone has to hate Vic. Of course he'll still get support and attention. He's too well established with the anime community for everyone to hate him. Even if he was found guilty and thrown in jail for some reason, I'm sure there would still be people who firmly believed it was all fixed to get rid of him. People are entitled to support the accused if they choose to do so. I'd just question how much they listened to the testimonies or at least find that decision questionable. I doubt that Rooster Teeth and Funimation fired him just because of people complaining about him on Twitter, despite what some of his supporters claim. Plus, the behavior from most of the Vic supporters I've seen have been pretty bad. Even without factoring in the death threats, a lot of people still harass the victims and their argument is full of victim blaming logic. I don't think I've seen any argument in support of Vic that doesn't eventually boil down to victim blaming or dismissing the accusations in some fashion.

I'm not trying to say that this is a black and white kind of situation in regards to where people stand on these accusations, especially when I'm sure the people against Vic have said/done pretty awful things too. I just don't think that there is a convincing argument to be made that Vic is innocent after everything that has happened to him and all of the people who spoke out against him.

To be getting upset that some people have chosen to still stand with Vic completely ignores the actions already taken that greatly favor the victims. He’s lost arguably his biggest jobs, a ton of convention appearances and burned even more bridges within the industry. I’d say the MeToo movement accomplished their mission against Vic. No point in updating this thread with news that not EVERYONE hates the guy.

I still really don't like that you think that this was the result of the MeToo movement trying to get Vic fired. I'm sure that some people wanted that, but the whole KickVic hashtag wasn't created specifically to led to Vic being fired. People just wanted to tell their experiences with Vic, encourage other people to be safe around him and maybe make cons not invite him or at least be more careful when doing so. I doubt anyone expected Vic to actually lose con appearances, let alone be fired from major studios, once these accusations started to get attention, especially when there have been rumors about Vic circling around for ages. I also think that seeing the MeToo movement as simply targeting men to get them fired is a pretty awful way to look at it as a whole.

I know that Vic has dealt with consequences for his actions. I am glad that there have been actions that favor the victims, but like I said before, I don't think that they won while Vic lost despite all of the consequences he has dealt with thus far. People are willing to give Vic $100,000 for a lawsuit, while anyone who spoke out against him and in favor of the victims receive death threats and harassment. Even with that money going to charities instead, that is still a pretty telling reaction to these accusations. Obviously not everyone who supports Vic donated to that GoFundMe campaign or are harassing any of the victims, but I do find those responses to these accusations disturbing and upsetting. People are literally afraid for their lives and the safety of their families while other people are giving Vic money to sue them.

It isn't a problem that everyone doesn't hate Vic. The fact that some people would rather give him money for a potential lawsuit because it's easier to believe that this is all a conspiracy against Vic than the idea that it's all true is a huge problem. People don't have to hate Vic in order to support the victims in question either.

 

[PicardMan]

Another ANN article on the Kamehacon controversy, Multiple Voice Actors Cancel Kameha Con Appearances Amid Vic Mignogna Controversy . VAs are cancelling because they re-invited Vic. I'm just worried about how many cons this issue may destroy as we know that Kamehacon seems to be in trouble.

 

[Fone Bone]

I get the argument about not wanting to ruin an innocent person's career. That does give me pause, believe it or not. It's just that when multiple accusations keep piling up is when I know something is fishy.

Also, I have a bit of a hard time with the animation company saying that if the voice actors who were harassed by Vic had such a problem, they should have gone to the police. They ARE aware that many types of sexual harassment (such as making gross comments and invading personal space) are technically legal? In fact, it is the animation company's responsibility to make their voice actors be safe from people like that, not necessarily the police. You do not have to rape a woman to do wrong by them sexually. It's doesn't actually boil down to rape vs everything else is okay.

 

[Light Lucario]

Another ANN article on the Kamehacon controversy, Multiple Voice Actors Cancel Kameha Con Appearances Amid Vic Mignogna Controversy . VAs are cancelling because they re-invited Vic. I'm just worried about how many cons this issue may destroy as we know that Kamehacon seems to be in trouble.

That's pretty concerning. I am glad that other voice actors are cancelling their appearances, especially since it shows some solidarity for the victims like Monica Rial. I imagine that it would also be kind of akward for other Dragon Ball voice actors to be with him at this point. I'm also concerned about cons re-inviting Vic like this. Even though they said he wasn't coming before after the allegations first started to get attention, he's back on the list just a month later. I'm just worried about other cons doing that since it would make it seem like they're only cancelling his appearances until the heat cools down. It just makes it more of a slap on the wrist instead of an actual consequence for his behavior, as well as valuing money over the feelings and safety of those who aren't comfortable with Vic.

His popularity and the money that can come from it matters more than anything else for some of these cons. That's why he kept coming back despite being infamous among con circuits for years. That's also why I'm worried that despite losing a lot of jobs from Rooster Teeth and Funimation, he'll still get plenty of attention from cons in the future when he really shouldn't. I just don't want him in a position where he can hurt more people or for children to idolize him.

I get the argument about not wanting to ruin an innocent person's career. That does give me pause, believe it or not. It's just that when multiple accusations keep piling up is when I know something is fishy.

Yeah, that's another reason why I find supporting Vic at this point questionable. All of these accusations have been building up for years, so it didn't come out of nowhere or just because of the new Dragon Ball movie. The more people accuse a person of something like sexual harassment, the less likely it is that they're all making it up.

Also, I have a bit of a hard time with the animation company saying that if the voice actors who were harassed by Vic had such a problem, they should have gone to the police. They ARE aware that many types of sexual harassment (such as making gross comments and invading personal space) are technically legal? In fact, it is the animation company's responsibility to make their voice actors be safe from people like that, not necessarily the police. You do not have to rape a woman to do wrong by them sexually. It's doesn't actually boil down to rape vs everything else is okay.

I don't think a lot of people realize that either. Sexual harassment is pretty awful obviously, but unless it turns into sexual assault or worse, I don't think people can just head over to the police for help. And it's not like a police report instantly fixes everything or that police will instantly believe a victim's accusation too. Victims of sexual harassment and the like are discredited regardless of when they speak out, especially women. A co-worker being a creep wouldn't be enough to land them in jail or even a restraining order, but it could be enough to justify being fired if an employer deems their behavior inappropriate or dangerous enough to affect their other employees.

 

[Fone Bone]

Take Azi Ansari. He is neither a rapist nor a criminal. But he is also a total scumbag who deserves scorn. It's like everything he did with the woman who complained about him was carefully done inside the law to make sure he had no legal culpability. But that doesn't mean he isn't an unethical butt-turd who treats women like crap. Scuzzbags like him know exactly the legal line to walk up to to be able to treat women badly, and use them, and act like they are subhuman garbage, without having to be held to legal account for it. And I think that's the majority of men who sexually harass women. I think the rapists and the assaulters are actually unusual as far as treating women like crap go. But if we hold men to the standard of "Well it's okay as long as it's legal" we will have a pretty crummy society on our hands.

 

[PicardMan]

Breaking news. An interview with Vic on the Dragonball Super Broly Blu Ray was removed from the actual release.